Article from iframagazine.com

Interview with Martin Huber of myheimat

Martin Huber, CEO of Augsburg, Germany-based gogol medien discusses the hyper-local media project, myheimat.de.

IFRA: How long has myheimat been on the market?

Huber: In its present form, i.e. how it can be used now and how it is operated now, myheimat has been online since 2003, but it goes back to the initiative of a local city magazine that was produced by the users in the 1990s.

IFRA: Can you describe briefly why you decided to go with hyper-local media?

Huber: The highly positive echo to the city magazine, which lived from user-generated contents, showed that it is a very powerful move to create an open platform for a sub local microcosm.

The fact that the people on location are very close to the topics means that this open approach offers a fertile foundation for this network of citizen reporters at the local level, where it can be possible to produce a magazine or weekly freesheet with the resources of a newspaper.

IFRA: Local reporting is the traditional strength of local and regional newspapers. Are you the new competition?

Huber: We are more a complement. We include a level that goes deeper than anything the classical newsroom of a local newspaper can afford to offer.

We go into a region at what could be described as sub-local level and that is possible only with a participation-oriented approach. Accordingly, we do not see ourselves as a direct competitor.

It is simply that a greater localisation is possible than can be offered by a classical editorial approach. In addition, an online portal is much more than a printed daily newspaper operating in accordance with the “1 to n” communication formula of the mass media where there is hardly any of the feedback, small group or “1 to 1” communication that myheimat can offer.

myheimat therefore provides a different quality: it acts as a communication hub for the region as well as for the local microcosm concerned.

IFRA: myheimat grants licences to newspapers for reproducing parts of the online content. Was cooperation with print media an objective from the start?

Huber: It became an objective at a relatively early stage because we did not want to see our concept reduced to a single channel. We understand myheimat as an integrated and convergent product.

Users should perceive it as a brand, whether online or in print, even if the methods of use differ according to the medium concerned. In the print version, we offer products ranging from a stand-alone monthly A4 glossy magazine consisting of 100-percent, user-generated contents, up to models in which individual pages are integrated into a regional daily newspaper or weekly freesheet.

We work here together with established publishing houses, such as the local (German) newspapers of the Neue Presse and Hannover Zeitung in Hanover. In this case, myheimat takes over individual articles, pages or entire multi-page articles for the print edition.

IFRA: Is the aforementioned glossy magazine produced independently of other publishing houses?

Huber: It differs from one region to another regional. In Bavaria, we produce it independently of other publishing houses. In Hanover, the local newspapers regard the magazine as a complement to their daily newspapers. We recently launched a corresponding pilot project there.

IFRA: How is the magazine distributed?

Huber: There are different models for this also. In our case, the magazine is distributed to every home, but naturally it is conceivable also to use distribution points.

IFRA: What is the work process, from recording the user-generated contents up to the printed page?

Huber: At the heart of our concept is not just trust in the raw contents produced in the microcosms by the citizen reporters, but also the selection and compilation of the articles for the print magazine that benefit from the wisdom of the many people on location, therefore the local community.

In concrete terms, this works as follows: In the portal, usage-related information, such as hit counts, article recommendations or profile information of the author, produce specific patterns that are used applied in order to facilitate the selection of which of the many online contents can be taken into the print magazine.

It can be envisaged as an iceberg where only the small tip – therefore the contents of interest to all the people on location – gets into the printed versions. The vast majority is reproduced online. Print can offer a certain navigation, an overview and completeness that give a very high value.

IFRA: Does that mean it is the users who decide which contents should be printed?

Huber: There are different models for this. Whereas it is possible to include the newsroom in the decision process, in the final instance it is the users who know best what is of relevance. For this reason, the aforementioned indicators are decisive for the selection of the contents.

IFRA: How does this work in practice? Is there an automated platform to transmit the selected contents from the portal into print?

Huber: This is a largely automated process. In the background there is a platform that we have gradually further developed in recent years. It processes the online contents in an automated operation and translates them into corresponding print products. This is backed by a very powerful publishing solution that brings community contents into print.

IFRA: Does this platform constitute the heart of the practical realisation of the online print model?

Huber: I do not wish to describe this powerful technology as the key to the concept. But it is one of the major bases enabling the economically efficient offering of sub local, tailored publications in this often small print-run segment. You need innovative cost structures in order to be able to realise such a project.

IFRA: What is the financial status of the model?

Huber: That also depends on how it is implemented. There are basically two approaches. Our cooperation partner, therefore daily newspaper publishing house or the publishing house of the weekly freesheet, can use the products as a means to generate customer loyalty for its product, which serves the purpose of indirect refinancing. Then again, the publishing house can finance the project directly via advertising.

IFRA: So these financing aspects no longer concern your area?

Huber: Correct. This is where the expertise and competence of the regional partners in each case come in. It is their strength to market print products on the ground. For this reason, we see working together with such partners as an ideal symbiosis.

IFRA: How many print partners do you have?

Huber: We have three right now. In Lower Saxony we have the Hannover Zeitung and Neue Presse, in Hessen the Oberhessische Presse in Marburg and in Bavaria an independent media operation. In addition, we plan to enter into additional cooperation agreements with other daily newspapers and independent local media partners in the near future.

IFRA: How long have these media partnerships been in existence?

Huber: Since the beginning of 2008.

IFRA: The myheimat business model is based on granting licences to the print partners. Can you briefly explain that?

Huber: We grant licences to regional partners so that the partners can market myheimat contents exclusively in print. We approach newspaper publishing houses, directory publishers and publishers of weekly freesheets with our modal. They can use the contents from myheimat correspondingly and benefit economically from doing so. They can use them to build a new business activity or integrate them in various ways into existing products.

IFRA: So advertising does not play a part in the myheimat portal?

Huber: Indeed it does, but the sub-local online advertising market is running somewhat behind the national online advertising market. However, we see an enormous potential in classical online advertising forms as well as in advertising models developed especially for products having a participation and community character.

IFRA: What resources, how many citizen reporters, technicians and journalists are behind myheimat?

Huber: Compared to a classical media product, we have a much leaner structure. We do not see ourselves as editors, rather as moderators and coordinators for the network of more than 14,000 registered citizen reporters throughout Germany.

This gives us very effective coverage. Even if I include the moderator activity of the partners, we have much fewer than 10 coordinators. But we do have a very large team of technicians and developers, as we must be sufficiently agile to further develop the portal daily in the light of the user feedback. For this reason, we put the emphasis on technical further development.

IFRA: Do publishing houses have a participation in myheimat?

Huber: Madsack took a participation at the beginning of 2008, but does not hold the majority participation. No other publishing houses participate.

IFRA: Other newspapers are also attempting to offer hyper-local products in order to achieve a better reader loyalty. What tips can you give newcomers?

Huber: myheimat has taught us that such projects need a central, composite offering, as it is very labour-intensive to train, manage and continually further develop a network of citizen reporters.

It takes lengthy preparation. But once the project is up and running – as myheimat shows us– it can automatically develop further. We now have a basis of 14,000 citizen reporters who show newcomers what can be done with such a portal. The new citizen reporters are suitably trained and assisted.

In this way, within a very short time it is possible to integrate, qualify and motivate the large number of new citizen reporters so that hey are able to ideally use the network for sub local reporting.

Starting from scratch every time is difficult and time-consuming. It can succeed only on condition that the technological resources are available to continually further develop the platform, as many aspects cannot be planned. You have got to learn from the daily community feedback and react accordingly at short notice – and I mean days here rather than months.

We consider this to be a very central aspect. For this reason, based on our experience we have developed this model in order to spare our potential partner publishing houses such extremely lengthy preparations.

We can also manage the provision and centralisation of technical and moderating resources for the publishing houses. This enables the local partners who have been in the newspaper business for many years to focus on their own core competencies – including the marketing of local contents.

We do not consider building such a community to be a classical core competence of a newspaper house.

IFRA: You spoke about a very lengthy process. Was there a particular breakthrough moment with myheimat?

Huber: It is more an ongoing development, but with different points of emphasis. Initially we developed the concept, testing the model at individual locations and adjusting it accordingly. Next it was a matter of investing heavily in technology to allow us to publish the product quickly and in an automated process.

For this purpose, the collaborative selection parameters were developed. Starting in 2006 we put the project under the myheimat umbrella brand to present it to the outside and find partner models.

In addition, the large number of new citizen reporters had to be integrated, qualified and motivated. Finally, we were ready by the end of 2007. In Hanover the local newspapers were able to implement myheimat within 30 days and regularly fill pages with content from myheimat.

IFRA: How is the quality of the articles assured? For example, how is it possible to avoid comments of a legally dubious nature?

Huber: Most such problems are solved by the community itself. It surprises us again and again just how certain things can be resolved decentrally or how users give other users assistance, tips or warnings.

The aforementioned selection criteria for print provide an additional quality filter. We see in that a distinction to the purely online community.

The connection with print causes very many users to pay a lot more attention to quality. People write a lot differently when they know that their text could appear also in print. In addition, 80 to 90 percent of our users are registered under their real name, many also with a photo. Therefore, they stand up for their content with both their name and their face. That leads to wholly different dynamics as well as a greater quality consciousness.

Interview conducted by IFRA Magazine Editor Michael Kaczmarek.

Page first published: 30.07.2008

© 2008 IFRA. All Rights Reserved.